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NASCAR: Penske says move to Ford not motivated by money, but by competition

February 29, 2012

Roger Penske thinks his racing team will have a better chance of winning with Ford. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

On a Thursday-afternoon conference call with the media, NASCAR team owner Roger Penske took care to note not so much what his 2013 move from Dodge to Ford is all about, but what it is not.

“It wasn't about money,” he said. “Let me make that clear.”

Penske said that he was pleased with the support he has received from Dodge and plans to try hard to win races for the brand in 2012. But to win a Sprint Cup championship, he thought it was important to be able to “benchmark” the position of Penske Racing against some same-brand competition, and the association with Ford will allow him to do that.

Though it seems Penske will have the option of running Roush-Yates Ford engines, as do other Ford teams, he said he plans to keep the 70 people in his engine shop working, likely to see whether they can match, or top, the engines coming from Roush-Yates. Aligning with Ford “is an option we couldn't turn down,” Penske said.

Penske also said he is committed to running at least two Sprint Cup cars in 2013 and two Nationwide Series teams, with the possibility of adding more or moving a Nationwide team to Cup.

Penske and Ford Racing boss Jamie Allison declined to say how long their deal is for but said it was long-term.

Why now? Because the Penske-Dodge contract expires at the end of 2012, and with NASCAR's requirement to completely rebody the Cup cars for 2013, “the planets aligned,” Allison said.

Penske said his company has done most of the work on the new 2013 Charger body configuration, but he expects Dodge to take over that job now. The 2013 Dodge Charger is still expected to make its public debut at the Las Vegas race later this month.

As for Dodge, a company spokesman said it plans to remain in NASCAR and it has begun a search for at least one new team.

In response to Thursday's announcement by Penske Racing, Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of the Dodge SRT brand and motorsports, said that “Dodge has enjoyed a successful partnership with Penske Racing for 10 years. It's a partnership that has produced results for both parties on and off the track. Roger has made a business decision to accept an offer with another manufacturer. We wish Roger and Penske Racing much success in the future. We are committed to work with Penske Racing to compete at the highest level, win races and contend for championships this season.”